Eliminate statute of limitations on rape and sexual battery: editorial

Charles Steele circa 1994, poster rapist for eliminating the statute of limitations on the prosecution of sex crimes.Cuyahoga County

It's inexcusable that bipartisan legislation introduced earlier this year by Democratic state Sen. Nina Turner of Cleveland to eliminate the 20-year statute of limitations on prosecuting rape and sexual battery has been gathering cobwebs in a committee since March.The importance and the urgency of Senate Bill 83 should be obvious. Since December 2011, state Attorney General Mike DeWine has made it a priority to ask police departments to submit old, untested rape kits to the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to be processed.

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The kits contain DNA and other evidence of sexual assault. More than 3,000 of the white cardboard boxes have been submitted as of Aug. 1 -- 1,358 from Cleveland alone, according to spokeswoman Jill Del Greco.More than 1,300 kits have been tested. They've generated 387 DNA matches -- 282 of them in Cleveland.The first Cuyahoga County grand jury indictment was issued on March 6. The DNA matched Charles Steele, who was in prison for another rape. But Steele got a pass on the earlier sexual assault simply because it had occurred on March 5, 1993. That was one day beyond the statute of limitations.That must never happen again. The 20-year statute of limitations has become an impediment to bringing sexual predators to justice.The Ohio Senate needs to fast-track its demise.

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